Aleksandrs Vanags
Aleksandrs Vanags (21 March 1919 – 1986), also known as Alexandre Vanags, was a Latvian football and basketball player. At international level, he represented the Latvia national football team, after World War II he played football in France.
.jpg.webp) Portrait of Aleksandrs Vanags in 1938. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aleksandrs Vanags | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 1919 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Rīga, Latvia | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1937–1940 | ASK Rīga | 61 | (18) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1946–1947 | Strasbourg | 5 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1947–1949 | FC Nancy | 21 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1949–1955 | Strasbourg | 129 | (13) | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 216 | (34) | |||||||||||||||||
| National team | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1937–1940 | Latvia | 13 | (9) | ||||||||||||||||
Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only | |||||||||||||||||||
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Biography
A midfielder, Vanags made his debut with Universitātes Sports before moving to ASK Rīga. He scored 9 goals for Latvia in 18 matches (from 1937 to 1939). In addition to football Vanags also played basketball for Latvia on an international level, he was silver medalist of EuroBasket 1939. In 1942 during German occupation of Latvia Vanags as a player with ASK won the Latvian league title.
After the Second World War Vanags settled in France where he joined RC Strasbourg. For two seasons he played also with FC Nancy but then returned to Strasbourg. In 140 matches with RC Strasbourg Vanags scored 10 goals. In 1951 Vanags won the Coupe de France with RC Strasbourg.[1]
Later Vanags took up coaching football and basketball.